NEWARK - After roughly three hours of deliberation, a jury found a former United States Marine not guilty of rape, but found him guilty of gross sexual imposition and assault.

The verdict came shortly before 10:30 a.m. Thursday.

Christopher Carson, 25, a United States Marine Corps veteran, had been charged with two counts of rape and one count each of attempted rape, kidnapping, felonious assault and gross sexual imposition.

The jury found Carson not guilty of each of the rape counts, as well as the attempted rape and kidnapping charges. They returned guilty verdicts on a lesser charge of assault and on the gross sexual imposition count.

A jury of seven men and five women deliberated for about 90 minutes Wednesday evening before going home for the night. The jury resumed deliberations Thursday morning and debated for about another 90 minutes before announcing their verdict.